Coffee Trivia – A Fun Read for Java Junkies

Coffee is a part of a lot of people’s lives in most
countries of the world. Many of us would have a difficult time getting
through the day without our favorite cup of brew. Majority of coffee drinkers would have 1 or
2 cups of coffee a day, while java junkies need at least 4 to 6 cups a day to
get by.

Although coffee is known to keep you awake, there are some
people who have difficulty sleeping if they can’t drink a cup of coffee before bed. Coffee
has now become indispensable for countless people. You probably love coffee too,
which is why you are reading this in the first place.

There are a lot of historical facts and off-beat trivia
about coffee that you java junkies might have fun reading. Just for
entertainment’s sake, here are some of them:

1.
Drinking too much coffee is
prohibited by the International Olympics Committee. If an athlete tests positive for more than 12
micrograms of caffeine in every milliliter of urine they will automatically be
banned from participating in the Olympics. This level can be reached after
drinking about 5 cups of coffee.

2.
The human body can only be
affected by caffeine until the 4th cup of coffee. After 4 cups in a given
time, your body gets rid of the caffeine naturally, therefore making you immune
to caffeine’s effects.

3.
The Italian baristas are
the world’s masters of espresso but the French first invented a crude version
of the espresso machine, which the Italians improved on and manufactured
commercially in 1906.

4.
There was a time in Turkey
when wives could legally divorce their husbands if they failed to provide a
monthly ration of coffee.

5.
The biggest consumers of
coffee are America, Germany, and France.

6.
Coffee comes second to oil
as the largest commodity being traded in the world. It is also the most widely
consumed beverage in the world.

7.
The most expensive and
rarest kind of coffee in the world is Kopi Luwak also called Coffee Alamid, and comes from civet
cat manure. They sell for about US$400 per pound or $30 per cup in New York
coffee shops. The beans are imported from Indonesia and the Philippines.

8.
Beethoven isn’t just famous
for his piano compositions, he was also known to be obsessed with his coffee.
He would count 60 beans for each cup of brewed coffee.

9.
Some Japanese bathe in
coffee grounds fermented with pineapple pulp to improve their complexion.

10.
Moroccans have their coffee
with peppercorns. Mexicans add cinnamon in their coffee. Ethiopians put a pinch
of salt in their brew. People in the Middle East add spices and cardamom.
Egyptians drink coffee strong and pure with nothing else in it.

11.
King Charles II banned the
sale of coffee and closed down coffee houses in England in the 17th
century due to pressure from wine and ale traders who felt threatened by the sudden
popularity of coffee. In January of 1675, the order was revoked due to public
outcry, and coffee shops flourished once again.

12.
The Greeks serve coffee to
the oldest person first as a sign of respect.

13.
In Persia during the 16th
century, coffee houses were called “qaveh-khaneh”,
meaning “school of wisdom”, because this was where wise men gathered to talk
about literature, art, politics, music, religion, and business.

14.
In 1674, housewives formed
a group called Women’s Petition Against Coffee or WPAC to protest the existence
of coffee houses in London. They complained that their men spent too much time
in coffee houses, neglecting their duties at home, even during a domestic
crisis.

15.
In Prussia, coffee was exclusive
for nobility, high government officials, and the clergy. This caused a revolt
in 1785 by the commoners who also wanted to drink coffee.

16.
Voltaire was rumored to
drink 50 cups of coffee a day.

17.
King Louis XV spent around
US$15,000 per year on coffee for his daughters.

18.
Coffee was once considered
as food, not a beverage, when Ethiopian tribesmen before the 10th
century used to mix coffee with animal fat and take them along on their expeditions.
It was supposed to get rid of hunger pangs and give strength when they had
limited source of nourishment while hunting in the bush.

19.
You would need 5,000 coffee
beans to produce a kilogram of roasted ground coffee.